The Doctor in Night Vale
by SuperWhoLokiLocked
Summary: When the TARDIS veers off course and takes the Doctor to Night Vale, things get more outlandish and strange than even HE'S used to. Rated for typical Night Vale dark/grotesque/etc elements in future chapters.
1. Intro

DOG PARK.

These words, printed in large, dark letters on a white metal sign, were the first thing the Doctor saw upon throwing open the TARDIS doors. And underneath, in smaller lettering: DO NOT ENTER. DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE.

Although the scene was very much not the lush, tropical jungle that the Doctor had been expecting, his curiosity was immediately piqued. He stepped out of the TARDIS, shut and locked it behind him, and studied his new surroundings. He seemed to have landed in the middle of a town, a town in some kind of desert, judging by the dusty, sandy ground and scrubby plant life. The buildings—plain one- and two-story houses, a supermarket, fast food restaurants, typical stuff—indicated Earth, with the year probably falling around 2013.

The Doctor covered the few feet between the TARDIS and the dog park sign, which hung on a chain link fence topped with a coil of barbed wire that glittered wickedly in the harsh sunlight. A low humming noise indicated that the barrier was electrified, as well.

"Now, what do we have here?" the Doctor murmured. "'Do not enter' I'm used to, but 'do not acknowledge?'" He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket with a chuckle. "That's just too tempting…"

The sonic reacted so strongly when he passed it over the sign that he dropped it in surprise.

"What was _that_?" he wondered, scooping the tool up and examining it from all angles, checking to see if it might be malfunctioning in any way. It seemed fine, so he aimed it again at the sign.

"Hm..." The sonic vibrated in the Doctor's hand, the green light at the tip flickering like a spastic firefly. He pointed it away from the sign, at a random spot on the fence, and the result was the same. _Everywhere_ he tried was the same—the sidewalk, a lamppost, a car, even the sky gave off strange readings.

Thoroughly confused but equally intrigued, the Doctor paced back and forth along a short section of the park fence. Obviously there was something wrong with this place. Extremely wrong. The TARDIS always took him where she did for a reason; plus, the sonic had never had such a violent reaction before.

"Okay, first, we're going to see what's in here," the Doctor decided. Still pacing, he looked past the chain link into the dog park.

Just seconds ago, the space had been empty. Now a person stood inside. At least, the Doctor figured it was a person. The human-sized-and-shaped figure was wearing a long black cloak, and a hood obscured its face. The Doctor stopped pacing and almost grabbed the fence before remembering that it was electrified.

"Hey! Hello!" he called, waving at the figure.

It remained motionless and silent.

The Doctor, not deterred in the slightest, kept trying to speak to it. His futile attempt at communication went on for about twenty seconds, and then abruptly ended when someone took hold of his hand and yanked him away.

"What are you doing!?" the stranger gripping his hand whispered. "Were you trying to talk to a hooded figure!?"

"Um..." The Doctor didn't quite know what to make of the man's evidently extreme level of concern. Luckily, the stranger continued without waiting for a response.

"It's okay, it's okay, I stopped you in time. I did stop you in time, right?" He took a step back without letting go of the Doctor's hand and looked him carefully up and down. "You don't feel anything unusual? Thomas Walters was the last person who tried to talk to a hooded figure; I don't think they've gotten the wrench out of his intestine yet..."

"What?" The Doctor slipped his hand free and placed it worriedly over his stomach. "A wrench?"

"Yes, it was stuck right inside his intestine, the one they found hanging from a telephone wire. I'm not sure what happened to Thomas, but I imagine wherever he is he's having trouble digesting anything."

"Oh. Well, that's... unfortunate." The Doctor scratched the back of his head, unsure if 'unfortunate' was the right word for losing an internal organ. "So, ah, what's this, then?" he asked, both to change the subject and because he really wanted to know. He pointed over his shoulder towards the dog park and started to turn around.

"Stop!" The stranger grabbed his arm. "There's nothing there."

"What? There's a-,"

"Shhhhh. No there's not."

"But you're facing it right now, you can see it!"

"I see nothing. There is nothing there."

A brief moment passed in silence, with the Doctor and the stranger staring directly at each other, one absolutely serious and the other completely puzzled.

"Okay, you're right," the Doctor agreed, just to appease the man. "I don't know what I was thinking"

"Ask the city council. They'll know. Oh!" The stranger seemed to realize something. "Where are my manners? My name is Cecil." He offered his hand, which the Doctor took.

"Lovely to meet you, Cecil," he grinned. "I'm the Doctor."

Cecil, rather than shake the Doctor's hand, gave it a tight squeeze, a gesture that would normally come across as reassuring or encouraging. For some reason, it felt like the opposite. "Hello, Doctor. Welcome to Night Vale."


	2. The Sheriff's Secret Police

"_Hello, Doctor. Welcome to Night Vale."_

"Night Vale?" the Doctor repeated. For reasons he couldn't begin to guess at, the slightest of chills ran down his spine. "And that's… on Earth, right?"

Cecil nodded, unfazed by the question that would have drawn concerned looks from most people. "Yes. Earth."

"And the year?"

"Two thousand thirteen." Cecil tilted his head in contemplation. "If you don't mind my asking, are you a time traveler?"

"Ah, yes, actually!" the Doctor said, pleasantly confused. "How did you know?"

"Just a feeling. And the flesh eating owl in that tree over there was staring at you; they tend to show up in areas where someone has used time travel."

The Doctor didn't see any owls, flesh eating or otherwise, when he looked back, even though he checked every branch at least twice. "You said this is 2013?" he asked, returning his attention to the man in front of him. "I didn't think that type of technology existed yet."

"Oh, time travel isn't available to the public," Cecil explained with a dismissive wave. He said as though it were the most obvious and everyday fact. "The City Council uses it sometimes. It was just decriminalized a few years ago, actually, so it's lucky you showed up now and not in the past. The punishments were brutal. And loud. And wet."

"That's…" The Doctor trailed off. He rarely found himself at a loss for words, but how was he supposed to respond to the bizarre things this man kept saying? Even Cecil himself seemed strange. Sort of… detached. Almost eerily calm about everything, from time travel to 'brutal punishment.' Was everyone around there like that, the Doctor wondered, or was Cecil a special case? He seemed friendly enough, regardless.

"So, Doctor, what brings you to our little town?" he inquired.

"I'm not really sure," the Doctor admitted with a shrug. "I wasn't planning on coming. My ship has a mind of her own. Sometimes she takes me somewhere unexpected and I have to figure out why."

"How exciting," Cecil smiled, appearing honestly interested. He laid a hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "You know, I work at the local radio station, and people always like to hear about new visitors. Maybe you can come in and give us an interview."

Seeing an opportunity to explore the place his TARDIS had led him, the Doctor agreed.

"Great!" Cecil abruptly moved his hand from the Doctor's shoulder to his hair. "I'm sorry," he apologized as he ran a finger along the part that flipped over the Doctor's forehead, "I've just never seen a hairstyle like this before! It works well for you, I think."

The Doctor, always happy to receive compliments (even if they were coming from a strange man awkwardly encroaching on his personal space), grinned. "Thank you!"

Cecil nodded and stepped back. "The station isn't far. I was just taking a short walk before starting my show, looking for anything newsworthy."

"Right! Just let me move my TARDIS somewhere less conspicuous and we can go," the Doctor said. He turned towards the time machine, only to find a man dressed head to toe in a black uniform prodding at the doors. He glanced up as the Doctor and Cecil approached.

"Is this yours?" he growled.

"Yes, this is my, ah, box." The Doctor wondered how the man could stand to have his face covered with a leather balaclava in the scorching heat, and why he would even be wearing a balaclava in the first place. "I was about to—,"

"And why is your boxwithin five hundred feet of forbidden property?" The man narrowed his unnaturally dark eyes. "Why are _you _within five hundred feet of forbidden property? Do you know the penalty for breaking this particular law? And have you registered this box with the City Council?"

The Doctor hurriedly fished in his jacket for the psychic paper he always carried, while Cecil shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot beside him.

"Hm," the man said when the Doctor held up what he hoped would be some kind of permit. "I see." He looked the TARDIS up and down and declared, "In that case, I'll only have to take this in for indefinite detention. Do not ever ask to have it back."

Even as the Doctor started to object, the man placed his hand on the time machine and disappeared with it in a puff of red smoke, leaving behind nothing but the faint scent of burnt maple syrup.

"That was close," Cecil murmured.

The Doctor spun to face him. "Where did he go!?"

"I don't know," Cecil shrugged, "but I would try not to think about it if I were you. We're lucky he didn't take _us _away for indefinite detention."

"But I have to get my TARDIS back!"

"Okay, shhh." Cecil placed his hands on the Doctor's shoulders and gazed into his eyes. "It's all right. Once, the Sheriff's Secret Police took all the five-sided dice in town, and the next morning I found them in my bathtub. Your box, your TARDIS, might show up anywhere!" He smiled reassuringly. "I'll even make an announcement on my show, telling my listeners to call in if they see it."

The Doctor stared back at Cecil, his anxiety lessening a small degree. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. He only said not to ask for it back, so asking if anyone has seen it should be safe."

"Okay," the Doctor sighed. Ten minutes in this place and he had already lost his TARDIS. It had happened before, though, and he always found her in the end, but something told him this time things were going to be difficult.

**Hey people! I was going to make this chapter longer, but it took a long time to write just this (I'm really slow...) so I just kept it short. I'm going to try to update at least once a week, but I might be a little late sometimes because I don't always have access to the Internet. **

**Also, please feel free to send me any ideas for the plot, or just any random things you'd like to see! I'm not sure where I'm going with this story, so any input would be great. ^_^ Thanks for reading!**


	3. Tour

**Hey people, I threw together a short one (I think it's short?) because I NEEDED TO UPDATE THIS. It's not dead! It's still a thing, it didn't stop being a thing.**

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Night Vale quickly proved to be one of the most unusual places the Doctor had ever been, despite its initial impression of being just a town on Earth, albeit a rather odd one. He realized that nearly _everything _there was unusual, often in drastic and disturbing ways that the citizens didn't even seem to notice. In just the dozen or so yards he and Cecil walked to the sidewalk, the Doctor saw a young girl sitting on the ground with a bloody kitchen knife in one hand and a carton of milk in the other, staring into space while numerous adults passed by without so much as glancing at her. And he could have sworn that one of stray-looking dogs that loped by was wearing medals.

"The station is straight down the road," Cecil said, gesturing ahead. The Doctor followed along behind him. With not a cloud in the sky to block the harsh sunlight, the heat was sweltering, and the Doctor slipped off his jacket and slung it over his shoulder, wondering how in the world Cecil could stand to be wearing a sweater vest.

The first structure that appeared as they made their way to the radio station was what appeared to be some kind of docking area and a boardwalk. Given that they were in a desert, it didn't make much sense. But it was indeed supposed to be a waterfront-Cecil pointed in its direction and explained, "That's the Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area. I know there isn't any actual water there, but it's a good addition to the town, regardless."

Someone was sitting on the edge of the boardwalk with a fishing pole, the hook dangling down in the sand and sagebrush below.

Continuing down the road, they reached an intersection. To the right lay a section of what was probably some of the only grass in Night Vale, on top of which sat a white stone building, "CITY HALL" carved in relief into a space above the entrance. To the left was a low, sprawling building with a large sign in the parking lot proclaiming it to be the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex. Cecil gave a bit of information about both as they passed, including the fact that a miniature town lived underneath the pin retrieval unit of lane 5. Normally that would have warranted an immediate trip inside to investigate, but the Doctor simply put it on the list of things he'd have to look at later.

After that, an Arby's came up on the right, set back a ways from the road. "There are lights over Arby's at night," Cecil informed the Doctor. "They're actually pretty beautiful." He smiled to himself, as if thinking of a cherished memory. The Moonlite All-Nite Diner came next, a small restaurant that looked worn and slightly antiquated inside, as small diners tend to do.

At that point the pavement split left and right, and narrowed to a gravel road ahead. A two-story brick building sat in the corner, next to the diner, "Night Vale Community Radio" painted in bold white letters on a black background on a sun-bleached sign out front.

Cecil sighed happily, evidently pleased at the sight of the place. "Here we are."

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**Note: For the geography of Night Vale, I used a map made by Melissa on her tumblr, cryingmanlytears. At least, I think that's her tumblr. It was on the bottom of the picture. I'll post a direct link if I can find it. :/ **

**Anyway, thank you for the favorites and reviews! You all make me happy. ^_^**


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